The revolution is here, and its smell hits first. The aroma of pizza wafts down from above gate five at Marvel Stadium, and Carlton aren’t even playing. In Sydney, the fragrance from a bowl of ricotta ravioli, tomato sugo and basil at Allianz Stadium accompanies the sight of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves devouring an opposing frontrower. Just fries and Four’N Twenty pies? Think again.
Food at Australian sporting grounds has transformed in recent years, as new spaces and vendors make going to a game not just about the footy. “Ultimately, whether they’re going to sport, out for dinner, or meeting with friends, you are competing for time and a share of people’s bandwidth for entertainment,” says Scott Fitzgerald, general manager at Marvel Stadium.
The AFL-owned ground on the fringe of the Melbourne CBD has just completed a $225m makeover. While the arena’s structure is largely the same, its bowels have had an upgrade. Three high-end dining venues have opened in recent months, and patrons can visit them not only on game days. Amphora and Friends of Fire offer a range of high-end fare, including a vegetarian menu by distinguished chef Shannon Martinez. The venues were even reviewed by the lifestyle lift-out in the local newspaper last month. (12.5 out of 20; “has potential”.)
This milestone marks the culmination of years of venue recalibration. Marvel Stadium staff now check tickets on entry to the concourse, rather than at the entry to the aisle, making it easier for fans to mill about new communal spaces. There they will find bars and takeaway outlets, including Pronto, the pizza shop from Lygon Street chef Johnny Di Francesco, who also offers Yamas Souvlaki. There is Korean fried chicken Gami, retro-style 8bit burgers and sandwich and salad provider Earl Canteen, offering an ultra-green bowl with boiled eggs.
Fancy food was once reserved for members, helping to justify their higher costs of entry. But Fitzgerald says Marvel Stadium is “at the forefront of premium integrations in stadia” as customer tastes adapt. “The evolution of that is they’re not just available for corporate and premium members, now you have to have, and want to have, a greater array of food and beverage offerings.”
The trend is replicated nationally. Sydney’s Allianz Stadium and the neighbouring SCG have offerings from the Merivale group’s Totti’s Pasta Bar, Vinnie’s Pizza and Gelato, Jimmy’s Falafel, El Loco Mexican, and Queen Chow noodles and dumplings. One person who works there shared an anecdote, saying patrons living nearby will come and have dinner during a Waratahs game, but never watch a minute of play.
Even in the ageing Accor Stadium in Homebush, Western Sydney-based Gema Group has overhauled the food offerings dotted around the huge cauldron since taking on the contract last year. El Jannah – the hugely popular Granville Lebanese chicken shop – has been opened inside the venue, along with recognisable brands such as The Meat and Wine Co, Oakberry Acai, Roll’d Vietnamese and Sushi Hub.
Author and football fan Les Street, who is writing a book on every Australian national league football ground, says the shift has only come in the past five years. “Before, where it was mainly hotdogs, hot chips, pies, deep fried chicken pieces, or maybe a bit of fish, but now, especially at the stadiums that have been rebuilt, they have really changed their menus,” he says.
The new approach is not just confined to Australia’s two biggest cities. Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast is now producing their own cheeseburger spring rolls (“premium beef with a hint of tangy mustard and tomato sauce, cheese and pickles encased in a crispy spring roll pastry”; four for $12.50), after the dish was one of the best-received at Allianz Stadium’s unveiling in 2022. And Optus Stadium’s $14.20 butter chicken loaded fries are often received more favourably in Perth than WA’s football teams.
The introduction of quirky items at arena food outlets might seem simple, but the explosion of cheeseburger spring rolls represents a major shift. Large, often multi-national catering companies have traditionally secured long deals for stadium catering, and these – while prestigious for the provider – have been financially testing, featuring wafer-thin margins, or even profit-sharing with the venue owners.
Frozen pies and chips were the simplest, cheapest method for tens of thousands of patrons to be fed, and for everyone – from the kid on the frier, to Four’N Twenty, the caterer, and the stadium operator – to get paid.
A confluence of factors has challenged this old model. Stadiums are under pressure to prove they are community – and not just sporting – facilities. With sound systems and LED lights, these arenas now regularly cater for concertgoers – for example to Taylor Swift, or Pink – to whom a pie may underwhelm.
An increase in competition from providers has also raised expectations. Sydney restaurateur Justin Hemmes’ Merivale won the catering rights for Allianz Stadium and the SCG in 2021, as one of several recent contracts that have shaken up the industry.
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Music and Booze Company founder Matt Rule says more nimble smaller operators have been early movers for these elevated consumer demands. His eight-year-old Beer, Footy and Food festival partners with second-grade Sydney rugby league team the Newtown Jets, and has attracted close to 10,000 people to Henson Park in Marrickville. Welcome Day, a vegetarian-focused celebration of Inner West inclusion, is planned for later this season.
“Large stadiums are limited in what they can do just by the infrastructure, but at these old school grounds, we can bring in 35 different brewers, we can bring in 20 food trucks,” Rule says. “For the Swans, we bring in margarita trucks and Aperol Spritz bars.”
His company has been engaged by the Sydney Swans to support their AFLW side, which finished on top of the competition’s attendance table last season across matches at Henson Park and North Sydney Oval, partly thanks to their culinary offerings.
Large stadiums may never be able to offer handmade fare at scale, but they are still committed to finding a balance. Marvel Stadium ran a tender process separate from its existing caterer for its three new high-end venues. And Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium, a site of Venues NSW – which also controls Allianz, Accor and CommBank stadiums – is running a trial where 5% of its beer volume has been handed to local breweries, most recently Goodfolk and Modus.
As much as craft beer and cheeseburger spring rolls might impress irregular fans, they make others queasy. An AFL Fans Association poll about food on its Facebook and Twitter pages last month attracted almost 700 votes. Of three options in response to the question “when purchasing food at the football what do you usually choose?”, almost 80% of respondents said a $4-$8 item, like a pie or a hot dog. Only 7% reported they usually bought gourmet options costing $14 or more.
The president of the Fans Association, Ron Issko, says the results weren’t surprising given cost-of-living pressures fans are now facing, and that “many prefer to bring their own food or eat before going to the footy”.
Marvel Stadium still sells roughly as many pies now as it has done before, and the AFL has kept prices low at the venue: pies and chips are both $4.50, and hot dogs are $6. It reflects the league’s commitment to the traditional footy experience.
At the same time, Fitzgerald wants to challenge fans’ habits around going to, and eating at, stadiums. “We’ve been the architects of that by saying ‘we’ll get you out of here as fast as we can’, as opposed to saying ‘now, we’ve got an offering for you’,” he says.
Rule is excited about the growing opportunities combining food and sport, and says he’s speaking to cricket about a possible tie-up. But personally, he just wants Macedonian-influenced Sydney restaurant Baba’s Place to make another batch of their fish burger-slash-sandwich for the next festival at Henson Park. “It was the best thing I’ve ever tasted. They did it in Covid, but they said they’re not doing it any more because it takes about three days to make a batch,” he says.
“I’m like, ‘damn it’! But I’m going to convince them one day.”